Adam Richard Rippon (born November 11, 1989) is a retired American competitive figure skater and media personality. He is the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, the 2010 Four Continents Champion, and 2016 U.S. National Champion. Rippon competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where he finished 10th. At the junior level, Rippon is a two-time Junior World Champion (2008, 2009), the 2007–2008 Junior Grand Prix Final Champion, and the 2008 U.S. junior national champion.
In 2018, Rippon became the first openly gay U.S. athlete to qualify for the Winter Olympics and the first openly gay U.S. athlete to win a medal at the Winter Games. Later that year, Rippon won season 26 of Dancing with the Stars with professional dancer Jenna Johnson. He guest-hosted RuPaul's Drag Race season 11 in 2019 ("The Draglympics"), starred in MTV's comedy series Messyness in 2021, and was the winner of the 2023 reality competition series Stars on Mars on Fox. Rippon joined NBC for the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, providing broadcast analysis alongside fellow figure skater and former training mate Ashley Wagner.
Rippon was named to the 2018 edition of Time Magazine's annual Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people. He released his memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, in October 2019.
Early life Adam Rippon was born on November 11, 1989, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the first child in his family of six children. His parents divorced in 2004. He attended a Catholic elementary school, Our Lady of Peace.
Career
Early career Rippon started to skate when he was ten years old; his mother skated and brought him along to the rink. He was coached by Yelena Sergeeva from 2000 to 2007.
In the 2004–05 season, Rippon won the silver medal at the Novice level at the 2005 U.S. Championships. After nationals, he was assigned a spring international assignment, the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia 2005, and competed in the junior division, finishing first and winning the gold medal. In the 2005–06 season, he debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. He competed at the 2005–06 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Croatia and placed 6th. At the 2006 U.S. Championships, he finished 11th at the junior level. In the 2006–2007 season, Rippon did not compete on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. He placed 6th on the junior level at the 2007 U.S. Championships. Following the event, he left Sergeeva and began working with Nikolai Morozov in February 2007 at the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey.
2007–08 season: Junior Grand Prix Final, U.S. Junior national, and World Junior champion In the 2007–08 season, Rippon competed on the 2007–2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. At his first event, the Harghita Cup in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania, he won the gold medal. He then won the silver medal at the Sofia Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria. These two medals qualified him for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. At that event, Rippon won the gold medal, and became the first man to break 200 points at a Junior level competition.
He went on to the 2008 U.S. Championships, where he won the Junior title. The Professional Skaters Association recognized Rippon as having the best men's free skate at the National Championships and was awarded the EDI Award. He earned a trip to the 2008 Junior Worlds, where he won the gold medal after finishing first in both segments.
2008–09 season: Senior international debut and second World Junior title Rippon moved up to the senior level in the 2008–2009 season. In the Grand Prix season he was assigned to compete at the 2008 Skate America where he placed eighth and the 2008 Cup of Russia where he placed third in the short program and fifth overall. In late November 2008, Rippon left Morozov. In December 2008, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to begin training with Brian Orser at the Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club. Rippon officially announced his coaching change on January 2, 2009.
At the 2009 U.S. Championships, his senior-level national debut, he placed seventh. He was named to the team for the 2009 Junior World Championships. At Junior Worlds, in his two programs, he landed a total of three 3A jumps, one in combination with a 2T. He won the competition, scoring 222.00 points and becoming the first single skater to win two World Junior titles.
2009–10 season Rippon sprained his ankle during the summer and missed some training time. For the 2009–10 season, Rippon was assigned to two Grand Prix events. At the 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard, he placed third in both segments of the competition and was awarded the bronze medal. At the 2009 NHK Trophy, he finished 6th after placing 8th in the short and 5th in the free.
At the 2010 U.S. Championships, Rippon finished 5th overall after ranking 4th in both segments. He had a fall on his step sequence in the short program. Following the event, he was named as a second alternate for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 World Championships, and assigned to the 2010 Four Continents Championships. At Four Continents, he placed 7th in the short program and first in the free skate, winning the gold medal. He was included in the U.S. team to Worlds after other skaters withdrew; he placed 7th in the short program, 5th in the free skate, and 6th overall.
2010–11 season: Four Continents champion Rippon began his season at the Japan Open, where he finished ahead of Daisuke Takahashi and Evgeni Plushenko. His assigned Grand Prix events for the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix season were the 2010 Skate Canada International and the 2010 Skate America. In Canada, Rippon had a collision with Patrick Chan during the morning practice before the short program but stated, "That was definitely the most exciting collision, maybe not the most dangerous." He won the bronze medal after placing third in the short and second in the free skate. At the 2010 Skate America, Rippon placed third in the short program, 7th in the free skate, and 4th overall.
At the 2011 U.S. Championships, Rippon finished 5th and was assigned to the 2011 Four Continents Championships, where he had the same result.
On June 16, 2011, Rippon announced he was leaving Canada and returning to train in the US at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, home of his DSC-based choreographer Pasquale Camerlengo and began training under the charge of Jason Dungjen.
2011–12 season: U.S. national silver In the 2011–12 season, Rippon was assigned to 2011 Skate Canada and 2011 Trophée Eric Bompard as his Grand Prix events. He opened the season with a 4th-place finish at Skate Canada. This competition marked Rippon's first attempt at including a quad jump in his free program. At Trophée Bompard, he was 4th in the short program, 3rd in the long, and finished 4th overall. Rippon won the silver medal at the 2012 U.S. Championships. He finished 4th at Four Continents and 13th at Worlds.
2012–13 season In September 2012, Rippon announced a coaching change, moving to train with Rafael Arutyunyan in Lake Arrowhead, California. At the 2012 Cup of China, Rippon collided with China's Song Nan – who sustained a concussion and withdrew – a minute into the final warm up before the free skate. Rippon said, "I kind of turned around to go into a jump and I think when Nan Song and I saw each other we both tried to avoid each other, but we went in the same way and we went head first into each other." Rippon finished 4th at the event and 8th at the 2012 NHK Trophy. At the 2013 U.S. Championships, he landed three triple Axels and finished 5th. He was assigned to the 2013 Four Continents but withdrew after sustaining an ankle injury on February 2, 2013.
2013–14 season
In October 2013, Rippon competed at the 2013 Skate America. He included a quadruple Lutz in both his short and long programs. He set personal bests in both segments, capturing the silver medal and finishing as the top American over Max Aaron and Jason Brown. In November he competed for the NHK Trophy and posted a new ISU personal best in the short program 82.25. He landed a quadruple toe loop in both segments and finished fourth overall. Rippon had a disappointing result at the 2014 U.S Championships, placing 6th in the short program and 7th in the free skate, finishing 8th overall in his worst ever performance at a senior national event. As a result, Rippon failed to qualify for the 2014 Olympic team.
2014–15 season In October 2014, Rippon competed at the 2014 CS Finlandia Trophy finishing first in the free program and second overall. At the end of October he finished 7th in the free skate and 10th overall at the 2014 Skate Canada International. In November he finished 5th at the 2014 Trophee Eric Bompard after placing third in the free skate. Rippon adjusted his blade brand and mount, took on a new trainer to work with his team and met with renewed consistency at U.S. Championships, landing effortless triple Axels and once again including a quadruple Lutz in his short and long programs. He went on to win the free skate portion of the competition and finished second overall with the silver medal. He was assigned to both the Four Continents team and the Worlds team.
2015–16 season: U.S. national champion Rippon started the season at the 2015 Finlandia Trophy, where he finished second overall and won the free skate. His Grand Prix season started at Skate Canada, where he finished fourth overall (third in the short program and fifth in the free skate). His second event was the Rostelecom Cup in Russia, where he also finished in fourth place (sixth in the short program, but second in the free skate). In an episode of Rippon's podcast The Runthrough Rippon recounted that he initially finished in third overall behind Javier Fernandez and Adian Pitkeev, but shortly before the medal ceremony it was discovered that a spin of teammate Ross Miner had been mis-leveled, and it was Miner who narrowly beat Rippon for the bronze medal. At age 26, Rippon won gold at the 2016 U.S. Championships. When interviewed by Andrea Joyce, Rippon famously said "I'm like a witch and you can't kill me. I keep coming back every year, and every year I keep getting better." He placed sixth at the 2016 World Championships in Boston with a fantastic fourth place free program to a medley of Beatles tunes. The audience gave him a standing ovation.
2016–17 season: Grand Prix Final debut
After taking bronze at the 2016 CS U.S. Classic, Rippon won bronze at the 2016 Skate America after placing 2nd in the free skate and 3rd in the short program. At the 2016 Trophée de France, Rippon won a second bronze medal after placing 4th in the short program and 2nd in the free skate, earning personal best scores for both the free skate and total score. He later described his free skate performance as "the best skate of my career." As a result, he qualified for the first time to the Grand Prix Final. He would finish 6th at the event in Marseille, France.
During an off-ice warmup on January 6, 2017, Rippon sprained his left ankle and fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot, resulting in his withdrawal from the 2017 U.S. Championships.
2017–18 season: Pyeongchang Olympics